Apple pie donuts, shortbread and more family desserts

To make the donut dough, combine the whole milk, egg and yeast in a stand mixer bowl and stir to combine. Pour directly on top the all purpose flour, sugar and salt. Place bowl onto mixer and knead for 10 minutes using the dough hook, push the dough down periodically if it climbs up the hook. Add the butter and knead for another 5 minutes. Remove dough from the bowl and shape into a smooth round ball and place it into another clean bowl that has been sprayed with pan spray and cover with plastic wrap. Place the dough in a warm spot and allow to rise for about 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and rest for another 30 minutes. At this point it is a good idea to begin heating your sunflower oil for frying, heat to 325 degrees F. Sift flour over your workspace and turn out the dough. Sift more flour on top of the dough Using a rolling pin roll the dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Punch out desired shape of donuts

For the apple filling, melt the butter over a medium-high flame in a medium size sauté pan. Add the vanilla pod and the scrapings from inside, heat this in the melted butter for about a minute. Add in the already prepared apples and stir well. Add the sugar and stir well, allow the sugar to melt and become syrupy, about 2 minutes. Add all of the spices and cook for another 2 minutes. Finish with a pinch of salt and the lemon juice. The mixture should be thickened and stay together in the pan. Pour into a small pan, cover and refrigerate until cooled.

Fill the shaped donuts with the apple filling and pinch around the edges. Drop into fryer and cook for about 1 minute on each side, depending on how big the donuts are. Safely remove them and place onto paper towels to absorb excess oil. Toss in cinnamon sugar.

In a large pitcher or blender, combine all ingredients. Using hand blender, or table top blender, blend thoroughly. Use less milk for thicker milkshakes. Use whatever is around your house, have fun with it!

Begin by lightly creaming the butter and sugar using the paddle on a stand mixer. Take care not to add too much air into it, you must scrape down the bowl occasionally to be certain there are no lumps. Add the salt and the egg yolks, combine thoroughly. Add the flour then mix just until the dough comes together, do not overmix. Cover and refrigerate dough to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the cookie dough to a 1/4" thick and punch out desired shapes, transfer to a baking paper lined tray. Very lightly brush with egg wash then sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees F until lightly golden brown, about 7-8 minutes in a convection oven or probably about 12-13 minutes in a still oven. Allow to cool completely.

Make the jam before the dough. For the jam, bring the water and the sugar to a boil. Add in the blueberries and cook on a low flame/boil until blueberries are nice and tender. Pour this mixture into a blender and puree until smooth, add salt and lemon juice to taste. Reserve in the refrigerator until ready to bake cookies.

For the dough, begin by placing sugar, salt and butter onto stand mixer and cream using the paddle (be careful not to add too much air). Add the egg yolks and mix just to combine; scrape down the bowl. Add the hazelnut flour, cinnamon, cloves and lemon zest; mix just to combine. Add the bread flour and mix the dough until it comes together, about 1 minute. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Using a small amount of flour, roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick, punch out two rounds per cookie. On one of the rounds punch out a smaller hole in the middle, this is where the jam will go.

Stick these two rounds together, one with a hole and one without, and pipe a small amount of blueberry jam inside, just to the top of the cookie, maybe a teaspoon of jam will suffice. Bake in a 350 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown around the edges.